CHESHIRE car maker Vauxhall is opening its doors to hundreds of young students this month to promote manufacturing as a career.

It follows the successful launch last year of the See Inside Manufacturing initiative by the company when students visited its Ellesmere Port and Luton plants.

This month more than 700 youngsters are expected to gain an insight into career opportunities with the firm.

Sessions include plant tours, with the Cheshire home of the Astra hosting young visitors between June 20 and 27.

Various manufacturing-relevant games and fun activities will be also available to experience.

Vauxhall boasts a track record of top management taking up their leading roles following an undergraduate placement or apprenticeship with the company, including Vauxhall’s current chairman and managing director Duncan Aldred, who was based at Ellesmere Port, and Phil Millward, Vauxhall’s director for human resources.

This programme will continue this summer as Vauxhall welcomes more than 100 new undergraduates at various sites and about 150 apprentices who will be joining the firm’s apprenticeship scheme in engineering or commercial roles, or at Vauxhall retailers.

The company says future young talent can look forward to sustained careers after its parent, US-based General Motors, announced last month that Ellesmere Port had secured the seventh generation Astra.

The £125m investment will lead to almost 800 new jobs, it will also double the number of apprenticeships at the plant and will lead to a third production shift, while ensuring production of the company’s new model into the 2020s.